Find Your Niche – Stand Out

If You’re Not Unique, Google Is Probably Not Interested

In any business, unique branding creates attention. People remember something new or unique. They talk about it with their friends, and publicity is created. Google wants to know exactly why you are different, and why they should send people to see you. When is the last time you heard a 12-year old say “Can we do the same thing over and over like we did yesterday?”

If You’re Not Walmart, Don’t Try To Be Walmart

It’s true that there are some large, generic companies that sell everything. There are an exponentially larger number of companies who are very successful selling something specific. It’s much easier for them to brand themselves uniquely, and to be found uniquely. If you had a website about purple, flower-scented toilet paper, and a consumer searched for “purple toilet paper” online, who would they find first? Google likes to match searchers to specific answers. Your site, if correctly done, would rank higher than a generic site like Walmart’s.

People remember this kind of branding. You may not call Terry for every question you have, but if you have a question about townhouses in Topeka, you’re going to remember Terry’s name. He has built a branding that allows him to corner a very specific market.

It works the same way online. There will always be a Walmart trying to buy out the top spot for “grocery shopping”. That’s a very generic term and deep pockets will be going after it. A small business will have difficulty getting ranked highly for that term.

If, however, a small business brands their website around purple toilet paper, it can certainly get a top ranking for “purple toilet paper”. Similarly, Terry may not rank at all for “Kansas homes” searches. But, if someone searches for “Topeka townhouses”, he may be at the top of Google’s search results.

Traffic Is Important, But Focused Traffic Is More Valuable

If Terry were to get to the top of the rankings for a generic term like “Kansas homes”, it’s likely that a huge percentage of the visitors on his website would be searching in other parts of Kansas where he does not work. It might help his ego to have a lot of traffic, but what he really wants to do is sell townhouses in Topeka.

On the other hand, if Terry reaches the top of the Google search results for “Topeka townhouses”, his might only get 10% of the total traffic that “Kansas homes” gets, but his actual buyers might double or triple. To mangle an old golf line: “Generic traffic is for show, focused buyer traffic is for dough.”